Mesmerised by membranes

摘要

In the food sector, the dairy industry has developed the most advanced filtration procedures for concentration and frac-tionation of molecules from milk and its derivatives. Membrane hygiene is one of the many elements of the very specific cleaning regimes that are a part of day to day production. Membrane filtration is widely used in the dairy industry and is a proven method for separating one substance from another. Inevitably, soiling occurs during this stage of production, leaving a residue on the membrane surface, known as membrane fouling. This complex detritus needs to be eliminated thoroughly in the cleaning process but any damage to the membranes caused by the cleaning could result in production down time and potential costly replacement.